Unconditional
by Liete
Summary: -ASL Brothers- "There were no thoughts of the monsters that lurked in the forest or people saying that any son of Gold Roger would be an unwanted demon. It was just three brothers having a good time in the snow without a care in the world."


**Unconditional**

 **By: Liete**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or any of the characters portrayed.**

 **A/N: I have a bunch of angsty ideas, so I figured it was only fair that I write some fluff, too. :D**

* * *

There was snow on the ground when they woke up that morning, so that Luffy threw himself out of their hideout to land in the white fluffy stuff, laughing merrily all the while. Ace and Sabo were much more delicate about it, as even with snow on the ground they didn't have rubbery bodies to blunt their falls.

They barely touched the ground before they took snowballs to the face, however, and while Sabo laughed, Ace shouted at Luffy and took off after him, fully intending to bury Luffy up to his neck in snow. Eventually Sabo stepped in and rescued Luffy from his chilly fate, while Ace and Luffy continued to snipe at each other.

This was their brotherhood now, and Ace and Sabo had fallen into their roles as older brothers. Sabo was the indulgent one, who encouraged and comforted, while Ace was the rough one, doling out reprimands and the occasional knock to the head.

Not because he didn't care. He _did_ , and that was the horribly embarrassing part of the whole thing.

Their breakfast plans were spoiled by the discovery that the lake had frozen over. While Ace sat and contemplated cutting a hole in the ice to do fishing, Luffy had whooped and taken off across the ice.

"Luffy! Get back here!" Sabo shouted before Ace could react.

"No way! This is fun!" Luffy laughed and slid over the ice, poorly mimicking skating but having the time of his life anyway.

Ace, meanwhile, had thoughts of thin patches of ice just waiting to collapse under the weight of an idiot like Luffy. "I'm not going to save you if you fall through the ice!"

"Sabo will!"

That seemed enough for Sabo, who laughed and walked onto the ice himself. "Of course!"

Ace scowled and muttered "traitor" under his breath as Sabo slid after Luffy.

From the bank, Ace watched as Sabo skated over to Luffy, colliding with him as they both laughed and clung to each other. Sabo took Luffy's hand in his as they slipped and spun and laughed across the ice.

Watching Luffy and Sabo, Ace suspected that Sabo had been wanting a relationship like that all along. Unconditional love freely given, asking nothing in return but for that love to be accepted. Sabo was more than happy to both give and receive such love. The ease in which Sabo had slid into his role as an older brother was proof positive.

It made Ace's chest tighten. He wasn't jealous—how could he be jealous of Sabo?—but he did wish that it was that easy for him, too. Luffy was an idiot, sure, but he was an honest idiot who wasn't stingy with his affection. Sabo ate it up, but Ace was…

Well, he didn't know exactly what he was, but he brushed off Luffy's any attempts at affection like he'd been burned.

By then Sabo had started to swing Luffy around, causing Luffy's arm to stretch. Ace had to lean back to avoid getting hit in the face by Luffy. After spinning around a couple times, Luffy's arm started to snap back. Luffy crashed into Sabo, sending them flying back and onto the ice with a loud thud.

Ace tensed, waiting for the crack of ice and the screams that would follow, but they never came. Instead, there was a moment of silence before both Sabo and Luffy burst into laughter.

As Sabo and Luffy stood up, Luffy waved over to Ace. "Come on, Ace! This is fun!"

Ace scowled immediately. "What if something tries to eat us? We should be training!"

"We can have fun sometimes, Ace! Come join us!"

Once again, Ace muttered "traitor" under his breath in response to Sabo waving at him. It was clear that this was an instance where Sabo was going to side with Luffy no matter what Ace said.

With that in mind, Ace finally stood up and glared at Sabo and Luffy. They both froze, their smiles fading into fear. Ace took a step onto the ice, half expecting it to collapse under his weight even if it had stood up to Sabo and Luffy's play. When it didn't, he clenched his fists and took another step towards Sabo and Luffy, who took a step back.

Then, all at once, Ace took off across the ice, half running and half skating. Sabo and Luffy yelped and tried to run, but they slipped instead, allowing Ace to barrel into them. The force sent all three of them sailing across the ice into a snowbank on the other side of the lake.

One by one they poked their heads out of the snow, staying there in tense silence as the moments ticked by.

Finally, Ace was the first to snort, and then all three of them were laughing as they rolled out of the snow.

* * *

The remainder of the morning and much of the afternoon was spent skating on the lake, having a very intense snowball fight, and building a snowman with Luffy inside, much to Luffy's indignation and Ace and Sabo's amusement. There were no thoughts of the monsters that lurked in the forest or people saying that any son of Gold Roger would be an unwanted demon. It was just three brothers having a good time in the snow without a care in the world.

It was only when Luffy's stomach growled so loudly it scared all three of them that they realized they hadn't eaten breakfast or lunch. Then it was business as usual, with the three of them teaming up to take down a bear for a dinner.

As they sat around the fire they made to cook the meat, Ace couldn't help but think of how _easy_ it had been, once he stopped fighting it, to act like a normal kid. It had been fun to play with Sabo and Luffy, even if it hadn't aided them at all in getting stronger. Now that it was over, Ace was back to scowling at the fire, and scowling at Luffy, who sat whining about how hungry he was.

Ace started to open his mouth to tell Luffy to stop whining, but Sabo spoke first.

"Not much longer, Luffy." He gave Luffy a friendly smile. "Why don't you just enjoy the fire and warm up a little?"

Luffy tilted his head with a frown. "Warm up?"

Sabo mimicked the head tilt and frown. "We _have_ been out in the snow all day."

Luffy blinked at him then his eyes widened and he wrapped his arms around himself. "Waahh! It's cold!"

Ace groaned. "You just now noticed?"

While Ace and Luffy exchanged a glare, Sabo let out a resigned sigh. They turned to look at him, and Sabo held open his arms. "Come here, Luffy."

Luffy's expression brightened, and he bounded over to be wrapped up in a hug. As Luffy snuggled up to Sabo, that nagging feeling from before returned to Ace with a vengeance. He brushed it off and poked at the meat on the fire instead. Satisfied that it was finished, he cut it up with practiced ease and tossed pieces for all three of them. With slightly less for Luffy, of course.

The reaction was instantaneous, with Luffy knocking Sabo over in his mad dash for the meat. For once Luffy didn't seem to notice that he'd gotten less food, but the lack of whining was a welcome change.

The entire day had been a welcome change, if Ace was honest with himself.

Getting Luffy to go back in the hideout and not go out and play some more was a bit of a challenge, but a solid knock to the head was a good incentive. Luffy rubbed his head and mumbled about how mean Ace was under his breath, but when he flopped (literally) onto his sleeping mat, he wouldn't stop squirming.

"Quit it and go to sleep, Luffy."

"I can't! I wanna go play some more!"

"If you don't quit squirming I'll—"

"…tell you a story! Me and Ace will!"

"Sabo!"

Luffy had taken the bait, though, and he beamed at them. "I wanna hear the story!"

Sabo gave Ace a look that actually made Ace freeze with its intensity. He then grinned at Luffy. "It's a story about a hero who saved the whole Grand Line from a group of nasty bandits."

Although reluctant at first, Ace eventually joined in on spinning a wild tale of piracy and heroism on the Grand Line (even though none of them knew much about it), with bandit villains that sounded a lot like a certain group they knew.

"…and he was a true hero. Do you know why?" When Luffy shook his head, Sabo grinned. "Because he shared his meat with everyone."

Luffy's eyes widened in horror. "I never want to be a hero…"

Ace had to muffle his snicker at that, and he could see that Sabo was biting his lip in an attempt to not laugh as well. Of course Luffy would balk at heroism if it meant he had to share his meat.

He reached out and shoved Luffy down, feeling a little resistance as his rubber body hit the mat. "You got your story, now go to sleep."

"But I wanna stay up and—"

"Ace is right, Luffy. Go to sleep."

Finally. Sabo was back on his side. Luffy just scowled and continued to whine, making Ace wonder why in the world he had included him in the vow of brotherhood. He was whiny and weak, a crybaby who needed help constantly and ate more than his fair share of food.

Ace was just about ready to hit Luffy over the head, potential for Luffy to begin crying be damned. Then, all at once, Luffy fell back onto his mat, snoring away. Ace and Sabo blinked then exchanged a look. Sabo chuckled nervously.

"…well, at least he's asleep?"

Sabo scratched the back of his head, but he carefully reached over to grab Luffy's blanket and cover him with it. The whole thing made Ace wrinkle his nose.

"He's going to stay a weakling if you keep spoiling him like that."

Sabo made a face as he finished covering Luffy with the blanket. "Being nice to him isn't _spoiling_ him. It's not like I'm letting him beat me or get away with not doing his share of the hunting. Our little brother's gotta grow up to be the Pirate King, right?"

Ace snorted and shook his head. "I can't believe he said that. He'll be lucky if he can even get past the Lord of the Coast."

"If he can stop crying long enough to even get in a boat."

They both shared a laugh at that, and as if on cue Luffy shifted over to snuggle up against Sabo's leg. Sabo's expression softened instantly. Ace watched with a strange tightness in his chest as Sabo petted Luffy's head and watched him with fondness.

Sabo really had been craving a relationship just like that.

Ace must have been glaring, because Sabo looked up at him and his eyes widened before he smirked.

"Don't be jealous. He'll probably cling to you like that if we move him."

Ace bristled and clenched his fists. "What makes you think I'm jealous?! Why would I want him clinging and drooling all over me?"

Sabo let out a laugh and gently extracted Luffy from his leg. For a moment, Luffy's face scrunched up as though he'd wake up, but then he fell still again. Ace started to protest, but Sabo continued to shift Luffy over so he was next to Ace instead. Sure enough, Luffy stirred just enough to snuggle against Ace's leg instead.

Although his knee-jerk reaction was to shove Luffy away, Ace found he couldn't. The warmth and weight of Luffy's body was…not unpleasant. He found himself relaxing—smiling a little, even—as Luffy snored against his leg. He slowly lifted his hand to run it through Luffy's hair, and he was surprised at how soft it was.

The magic was broken when he looked up to see Sabo grinning at him, and then his scowl was back in spades, along with a healthy blush. "What?"

"Nothing! Nothing!" Sabo laughed regardless, but he laid onto his mat and pulled his blanket over his head before Ace could comment further.

He could still hear Sabo chuckling, which rankled Ace even more, but if he moved he'd just wake up Luffy. He was powerless to give Sabo what he had coming, unless he felt like unleashing Luffy again.

That was probably Sabo's plan the entire time. The bastard.

As if sensing Ace's irritation, Luffy stirred, smacking his lips and mumbling. The thought that Luffy was going to drool on him crossed Ace's mind, but then Luffy nuzzled his leg and let out a groggy "Ace" before he began to snore again.

At first Ace felt like he'd been punched in the stomach. Then he felt the tension in his forehead ease, along with the corners of his mouth starting to perk up.

To hell with it.

Ace eased himself down into a lying position, careful not to disturb Luffy. Nearby he heard Sabo snoring, so he didn't feel bad about tangling his fingers in Luffy's hair. He stared up at the ceiling as he stroked Luffy's hair, listening to Luffy and Sabo's snoring amidst the rustling of leaves and the occasional crunch of the snow from some creature or another passing underneath their hideout.

This was why it was the three of them and not just him and Sabo. Luffy was annoying sometimes, sure, but he was good for both of them. Sabo obviously adored being a big brother and Ace…

Ace felt like he had a place in the world. He had a little brother who needed him. Two brothers to get him to relax and play in the snow. A little brother snuggling against his leg and another brother sleeping nearby, making him feel like it really had been a good thing he was born.

He didn't think he'd be able to get over how embarrassing it would be to tell Sabo and Luffy that to their faces, but as he drifted off to the sound of their breathing, it was enough to have them nearby.


End file.
